DIDD and resources for parents of children with disabilities in the State of Tennessee
Commissioner Brad Turner is head of the Department of Developmental and Intellectual Disability (DIDD) and part of the executive branch of government that oversees the administration, operation, and policy in the State of Tennessee.
He was appointed by Gov Bill Lee in January 2019 to oversee services and support to children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the state programs such as TEIS (Tennessee Early Intervention System) and Katie Beckett Waiver. As the father of a daughter with intellectual and developmental disabilities, he is passionate about advocating alongside people with disabilities and their families.
Commissioner Brad Turner with his family (wife Rebecca and daughter Kinsley)
Commissioner Brad Turner with his family (wife Rebecca and daughter Kinsley)
After Kinsley was born in 2006, Brad began his journey to the role of Commissioner by being a father first. He began to understand the challenges and circumstances facing families with disabilities and was determined to work to make her life better and more equitable. He’s now taken the lessons he’s learned as a father and is working to bring them to fruition by making Tennessee the best place for citizens to live and thrive in the disability community.
What is the Katie Beckett Waiver?
This waiver is part of TEFRA(tax equity and fiscal responsibility act) which is a federal law enacted in 1982 that allows for children with disabilities to be cared for at home while receiving state benefits irrespective of the parent's income/ assets.
Resources:
To learn more about the story behind the waiver and Katie Beckett check out this resource: https://www.tnjustice.org/katie-beckett-waiver-tennessee/
To learn about Katie Beckett in the State of Tennessee check out https://www.tn.gov/didd/katie-beckett-waiver.html
Check out our interview with Commissioner Turner and the Communication Director of DIDD, Cara Kumari on Episode 55 of the Raising Kellan Podcast on your favorite player.
Transcripts
Marsh Naidoo (00:11):
Hi guys. Welcome to the Raising Kellan Podcast. My name is Marsh Naidoo and I blog at raisingkellan.org where we curate resources for parents raising children with developmental delay and or disabilities. As always, remember, the information on this podcast is purely educational, and as always, consults your healthcare provider for any medical advice. Thank you to Jessica Harrison of Shelter Insurance for sponsoring today's episode. In today's episode number 55, we are joined by Commissioner Brad Turner of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities here in Tennessee. So grab that cup of coffee and join us for some awesome conversation.
Marsh Naidoo (01:12):
So Brad, welcome to the Raising Kellan podcast. We appreciate your time.
Commissioner Brad Turner (01:17):
Well, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me. I'm certainly looking forward to chatting with you a little bit.
Marsh Naidoo (01:22):
Brad is the Commissioner of the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. You are part of Governor Bill Lee's executive staff. Brad, I must be honest, I did not know that the Department of Developmental and Intellectual Disability was actually a standalone agency. <affirmative>, Can you please educate us more about the role of D I D D?
Commissioner Brad Turner (01:49):
Sure, I'm happy to do it. So yeah, it's a great point because a lot of folks didn't realize that Tennessee actually has a standalone department dedicated to serving Tennessee with Intellectual Developmental Disability. So that was created a little over a decade ago, but 11 or 12 years ago the department became a standalone department moving from the mental health side into its own standalone department. And I think that was really critical in the development of services inside Tennessee was the leadership at the time recognized that there needed to be a dedicated service model for Tennessee and with disabilities. And so as we've started to kind of progress, I came on board in January of 2019, right after Governor Lee was sworn in, I had the privilege to become the third standalone commissioner for the department. The two previous commissioners, Jim Henry and Deborah Payne did an excellent job creating a model for us to deliver services and navigating really what was a challenge of figuring out what does it look like as a standalone department to serve Tennesseeans with intellectual developmental disabilities.
(02:48):
So now that we've got a really strong foundation, what we work to do is for, we work very closely with Tenncare through our Medicare, Medicaid waivers delivering services to Tennesseeans every day. But ultimately what our goal is, is to work ourselves out of a job. We want Tennesseeans with disabilities to be able to thrive independently live in their communities, work on their own. But until we get to that point, we're gonna continue to make sure that we deliver services at a very high level to make sure that every Tennesseean has their needs met. And if we can't meet those needs, try to figure out creative ways to pull in other partners to make sure that we're availing ourselves to every opportunity for an individual to be successful.
Marsh Naidoo (03:28):
Brad, your intrinsic motivation as Leadership of D I D D also comes from the perspective of being a parent. Can you please talk more to that, sir?
Commissioner Brad Turner (03:40):
Sure, yeah, and you're right. So my angel on earth here is my daughter Kinsley. So Kinsley is going to be 15 in December, and Kinsley has an intellectual and developmental disability. So one of the really unique things for me that I count as a blessing and a privilege is being able to approach this role from the lens of a parent and not just from a bureaucrat or someone who uses this as a nine-to -ive job, I really understand what it's like to try to raise a child in a world that's not built for individuals sometimes with disabilities working closely with the school system around education plans and IEPs and 5 0 4 s and all the things that we worked through as parents. Just last night we were up at two in the morning because Tinsley wasn't sleeping. And so we were trying to figure out if there was something wrong and trying to help her go back to sleep.
(04:29):
And as a mother as well, those things are often commonplace and in our world, and we have to still put on a smiling face and move forward the next day at work or the next day in our community when we're dead tired because we've been up all night. But she really is the driver for me to figure out if I'm going to serve her, I need to be able to serve several thousand other Tennessees who find themselves in the same situation. So anytime I approach a problem, I automatically put on those parent lenses too to figure out is this going to help make a parent's life or a guardian's life or a conservative's life easier in how they deliver services, but ultimately, is it gonna make the individual better? Is it going to make them more independent? Is it gonna provide the services that they need to be successful in Tennessee? And all of that is crafted from the lens of being a parent first and foremost. And I've been doing that since I said Kinsley will be 15 next month. So I've got some years of practice there that we're trying to put into policy and hopefully help other Tennesseeans that are in the same situation.
Marsh Naidoo (05:30):
Brad, let's talk about the Katie Beckett Waiver. Tennessee is an exceptionally progressive state as far as providing supports to parents raising children with disabilities. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the Katie Beckett waiver and implementation with regards to the state of Tennessee? Keeping in mind that other states may have programs that are similar to Katie Beckett, but I'm talking here more about Tennessee itself.
Commissioner Brad Turner (06:02):
Yeah, no, it's a great question because it's when we get a lot of, since it's relatively new by the name of Katie Beckett inside Tennessee. So historically the program's been around for almost 35 years. President Ronald Reagan in 1986 signed legislation into the law of the land around the Katy Beckett waiver and allowing Medicare Medicaid dollars to be spent at home as opposed to being required for a hospital stay. So Tennessee had some programs that delivered similar assistance, but they were not done under the umbrella of what's called the Katy Beckett waiver. So last year the legislature passed the Katie Beckett waiver inside Tennessee, which made Tennessee the 49th or 50th state to actually have something that was identified as a Katie Beckett waiver to deliver services in the home for Tennesseeans that might need that. So our partners over at Tenncare and our folks inside D I D work very closely together to create really a hybrid model that gave us two options, a Part A for really medically complex children that might have different levels of acuity and different levels of need to deliver services based on what they want or what they need.
(07:09):
And then a part B that might be for other families that don't have such the acuity or such the medical challenges, but might still have needs as far as non-traditional therapies, home modifications, respite care, things of that nature. And so you've got two lanes that families can approach inside Tennessee. And as we started rolling that out, we're also able really to start looking at, okay, are we meeting the needs of the families or are we rolling something out that's so rigid that you just can't have any flexibility in there? So it's not really helping anybody because we've made it so focused on things that people don't need. So we're really starting to learn more and more about that through this year about what families need and what they might not need. And what we're finding out is some families have actually come back to us and said, Hey, the part B really worked great for me.
(07:56):
I don't need the 24/7 nursing, but my child might need some home modifications or unique therapies that have been successful for my child. So I really wanna focus on that. So we've built in some really cool flexibility into the programs to try to make sure that we're meeting the needs for parents and for caregivers, but specifically for individuals that are under 18 years old inside the program itself. So as of last week, we had north of a thousand families, individuals that are enrolled in the Katy Beckett program, and we're working to keep accumulating families and making sure that we're sharing information. And that's why I think what you're doing is incredibly important with the podcast because a lot of families still don't know that the Katie Beckett Waiver exists in Tennessee in line with what you shared at the beginning, that they don't know that the department exists. So we're always working with our communications team, with our partners, both public and private to make sure that we're delivering the message to Tennessee is that help is available, get to us and allow us to figure out ways to help you and your family so they can be successful.
Marsh Naidoo (08:59):
So Brad, I'm just gonna do a little bit of a sum up here. The Katie Beckett waiver is essentially a service that's available for children with disabilities in the State of Tennessee under the age of 18 <affirmative> that previously might have been excluded from Medicaid because of the appearance of not meeting the income eligibility criteria.
Commissioner Brad Turner (09:25):
That's right. That's right. And I think that's one of the things that I give Governor Lee credit and our state legislative body credit is they saw a need and they worked with us and work with families very closely together to say, How can we still deliver services? Because I think sometimes as being a mother, and I know being a father and friends and folks that we're friends with in the community, just because it looks like you make a lot of money doesn't mean you can afford everything that our child needs.
(09:53):
So these programs are absolutely necessary to make sure that we're creating levels of support for all avenues and not just looking at income is something to say that family doesn't need help because they make $3,000 more than what the minimum or the maximum requirement is. We still wanna make sure that we're building a service model that can deliver for all of Tennessee's families and making sure that they feel comfortable in being able to provide for their child. And the Katy Beckett waiver was part of that. The governor recognized that and the state legislature recognized that. And as a result over north of a thousand families right now are benefiting from that waiver and it's not even been in existence for a year in the state.
Marsh Naidoo (10:31):
We can take just a little break for a coffee refill, and while you do that be sure to check out some of the episodes that we have recorded. We seem to have hit a home run here for Tennessee 51 was a recording with Dara Bacon of Arc of Tennessee. In episode #52, we talked with #Penny Johnson of the Tennessee Center for decision-making support. #53 was a talk with Emily Bruce of the Peer Connect App. #54 was a talk with Steven Kormanitsky who has opened up the franchise. We Rock the Spectrum Gym in Franklin, Tennessee. We are gonna be joined in the second half by Cara Kumari, who is the communications director at D I D D. Welcome Cara
Marsh Naidoo (11:34):
Brad, I think part of the confusion for me as a parent when I initially signed on to Katie Beckett, which we did at the end of 2020, and I'm proud to say that this year we have been so blessed to derive benefit from the funds available from the Waiver. One requirement that comes up where parents need to disclose their income is part of the application process. And I just think for transparency, that might be a factor that some parents are still hesitant to enroll in the program itself. Can you speak to that?
Commissioner Brad Turner (12:15):
Yeah, no, it's a great point. And so I'll, Kara has good perspective on this too, and I know a lot of what the answer's gonna be, Medicaid and Medicaid, they require that information in any application. But I think you keyed on something that I wanna make sure that the listeners and the folks that participate in your podcast understand this is all good feedback that we're still able to take back on how we might be able to change the application to make it a little bit friendlier. So even though there's requirements that might be required in the application process, we don't want the application process as a whole to be a pain for families where they just throw up their hands and say, I just don't want to do this anymore. It's not worth getting another page that I have to fill out information or provide more notes and doctor's information and feedback.
(13:02):
So that was one of the things that came up and the listening towards the Caraled and then I participated in was the application process was really challenging for us. Why does it have to be this way? And unfortunately, the reason has to be that way with a federal program like Medicaid, there are requirements to protect from fraud and things like that that have to be documented. And so unfortunately, because of some bad actors that have participated historically in Medicare and Medicaid fraud and even fraud inside Tenncare and inside Tennessee, these are just part of the steps that we have to go through even though they're not easy. But we wanna make sure we take that feedback back and work with our partners to take Kara on the application process knowing that there's challenges to it, but also being creative in figuring out how do we make the application process easier in areas that we can because we know that it can be a pain. Cara, do you want to add anything to that since you've been really involved in that too?
Kara Kumari (14:00):
Good morning. And Commissioner touched on really the majority of it, but one of the things that as you mentioned, when you start the Katie Beckett application process, you have to start by applying for Medicaid. And there are a couple of reasons for that. One, it's a federal program and as commissioner talked about, there's accountability. There has to be some awareness of who's applying for those programs. The second is that CMS requires us and really we're required to make sure that a person is not eligible for Medicaid any other way before becoming a part of the Katie Beckett program because the Katie Beckett Programs for people who would not be eligible for Medicaid or medic or Medicaid because of their income and assets. And then there's really a third factor to the financial eligibility as well. If that child qualifies for part A premium may be required based on the parents modified adjusted gross income less the amount they pay for their child's private insurance.
(15:04):
So that premium has to be calculated based on some of that financial information. We never, as Commissioner said, we never want the application process to be what stops somebody from applying for the program. So we are willing as D I D D to walk people through that application process. If a person gets on Tenncare Connect and says, Well, I don't understand this, they can call the regional Katie Beckett numbers and we'll help walk them through this. But it is important that this occur and there are we wanna make this as streamlined as app an application as we can, but there are certain steps that we're unable work around simply because this is a federal program using federal money. And that because of that it has to we're held to higher standards when it comes to accountability for how those funds are being used.
Marsh Naidoo (15:55):
Kara, those regional numbers that we can make contact with that is actually how we initially navigated to the Katie Beckett waiver. And that's actually how we got hooked up with our case manager that was able to walk us to the process. So I will be sure to attach those numbers as well to the show notes that goes along with the podcast. Guys, I really appreciate your input as far as to educating and telling us more about the Katie Beckett waiver. Could you also talk about the Tennessee early intervention system as well? Brad, can you talk to that as well?
Commissioner Brad Turner (16:34):
Yeah, and I think it's a great segue because one of the things that we're working on, similar to what you and I talked about earlier, is trying to figure out how do we serve everybody with disabilities inside Tennessee that may or may not be inside our waiver services program? And TEIS is one of those. So the early intervention program was historically housed under the Department of Education inside the state, and it serves children from birth to three years old. And a few of the neat things about that a lot of folks don't realize is anyone can make a referral. So if it's a neighbor, a friend, a doctor's office, a pediatrician who might see a child, anyone can make a referral to the T E I S program and they'll be able to meet with someone who can come to their house or they've been able to do it virtually in the midst of this pandemic to evaluate the child and determine if they're eligible for services.
(17:25):
And so one of the things that we've really been working hard on is trying to figure out how do we expand those services, Number one, to cover more potential disabilities or delays to make more children eligible, but also working very closely in a coordinated campaign effort and communication effort with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the children's hospitals all across the state. In fact, Kara just this week was over in East Tennessee speaking to a children's hospital around TEIS and Katie Beckett, and really providing an entire context about what the department's trying to do. But what we believe in, and we will always believe in with the TEIS program is if you create a strong foundation for a child and if you invest early in their life, that builds something for them to be able to continue to grow, to continue to show confidence, to continue to develop their skill set.
(18:16):
So when they do become an adult, those skills are already permanent because of what happened inside the TEIS program. And if you recall earlier when I was talking about what we're wanting to do, even some of those basic steps that we take inside TEIS can create opportunities for independence down the road when the child is 18, 19, 25, 35, to live independently in their community, to hold a job, to build relationships with other folks. And that's really where it starts, is inside the TEIS program. So we serve thousands and thousands of children all across the state. In fact, we've seen about a 10% jump year over year in children that are enrolling in the program, which is exactly what we want. We wanna see more children become available. And through your podcast, through efforts that we work with our public and private partners, we wanna make sure that we continue expand that message that TEIS is a program that's available to no cost at no cost to the families, they're covered by your tax dollars and programs that we have inside the state to work to create an avenue and a pathway for every child to be successful.
(19:21):
And my daughter went through it, Kinsley went through it had her social counselor and her service coordinator 15 years ago, 14 years ago, working with her in our home. So I'm very fond of the TEIS program and it's one that I've seen an impact on my own life and I wanna make sure that we continue to provide those opportunities for other families that may or may not be aware the program exists.
Marsh Naidoo (19:47):
As DIDD works towards creating an inclusive environment for our kids. What is being done in terms of working to promote person-first language and working towards creating a sense of belonging for children with disabilities?
Commissioner Brad Turner (20:07):
Yeah, it's a great question. In fact, one of the things that I'm doing right now, in fact later this morning, I'm the chair of the Committee for Gifted and Students with Disabilities as it relates to the new funding plan that the state's going to be rolling out. And so we are working very closely with the Department of Education and make sure that our students are prioritized, not segregated or segmented, but prioritized and funding because of the needs that we see. Very similar to what you and I were talking about earlier, is different children have different needs. So we wanna make sure that we continue to have a very active voice at the table with the Department of Education as these children are in the school systems. But the other things that we do too is we really drive home person-centered thinking. So we have self-advocacy opportunities, we have multiple public and private partners that we work with where person first language is prioritized to say, that's not a disabled person, that's a child that may or may not have a disability or things that they start understanding inside their culture, inside their community to say, How do we make sure that we provide equity that's fair and balanced, but not equity?
(21:12):
That's charity. And so what we do also with companies is we wanna make sure that we're working with companies that are looking for talent, not just looking for individuals that have disabilities where they just check a box to say, Look how diverse and inclusive we are. We've hired individuals with disabilities in Tennessee. We want them to see the talent first. And if the individual has a disability, that's just something that comes along with who the person is and not what the person is. And how do we work with companies to make sure that they've got fully inclusive areas of opportunity. So we actually have a full team that's dedicated to those types of conversations. Kara's team works very closely with individuals on person-first language and how we communicate how they need to communicate. We work very closely with the school districts and how they make sure that they educate children with disabilities, but also educate traditional students to be able to have fully inclusive classrooms.
(22:02):
Not to put her on the spot, but Cara has a child in public schools who is very close to some friends with disabilities inside her classroom. But that's part of the culture and the community we want to build is where they look at those children, they say, Well, there's nothing different. They must might just be in a wheelchair. And they play with them, they interact with them, they engage with them. And historically our population has been segregated and segmented in schools. And while that might be necessary, sometimes based on what parents request or behavioral challenges where they wanna make sure that they meet the needs of the student. But what we're always trying to do is make sure that we're not only knocking down a glass ceiling, but we're knocking down a concrete ceiling that our children sometimes have to face. And we're working to do that every day. And that's something that I'm very proud of in our efforts.
Marsh Naidoo (22:48):
Absolutely. And it's creating that sense of belonging. It's more than just the equality-inclusion, it's actually that sense of belonging that we seeking to foster. There's so much to talk about, and I know your time is limited, but I'm just, a few of my questions are going to be placed on services that are provided to individuals with disabilities through the continuum of care. And I'm looking here specifically with regards to finding medical providers when adults may age out of the system turning 21 and older, and what's been done to make sure that we have a pool or a network of medical providers that are willing and ept at providing services for individuals with disabilities.
Commissioner Brad Turner (23:41):
And it's a great question because that's something that we talk about every day is how do we build a cradle-to-grave approach for citizens inside Tennessee to make sure that their care is not stopped just because they might age out of the school system or something challenging happens with the changes in federal requirements. So we work very closely with our communities to make sure that we don't lose that opportunity. One of the things that I know Kara has reminded me of is we work very closely not quite a decade ago with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center to create an IDD toolkit to make sure that there's access there and there's resources there and awareness there for folks to utilize the toolkit. And it helps train professionals on those types of conversations that need to happen inside our community. And so Kara, I don't know if you wanna add a little bit of color to that for a few seconds around the idea. I was not here when that toolkit was created, but I know Kara was on board as that was being developed. Kara, you wanna talk a little bit about that toolkit and kind of the background on it?
Kara Kumari (24:41):
Sure. The IDD toolkit was developed in partnership with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and our Deputy Commissioner of Clinical Services who unfortunately passed away several years ago. Dr. Tom Cheatham. Dr. Tom Cheatham was a developmental disabilities adult developmental disabilities specialist medical doctor. And his he spent much of his life trying to educate similar medical professionals because there are a lot of pediatricians who are very trained in developmental disabilities or they have that expertise. But as I think you touched upon, when that child becomes an adult, those, a lot of those primary care providers or nurses that they might see never had that training about developmental disabilities. So what Tom worked to do with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center is develop this I d D toolkit and provide those tools to primary care physicians and other clinicians about things that they might recognize in a person with a disability that might not be something they would see in a typical person without disabilities.
(25:52):
Aspiration, pneumonia bowel obstructions people with disabilities who are not verbal sometimes demonstrate pain or indicate pain in different ways. And so just bringing some awareness to some of those areas where you might not see that certain conditions as much in a person without a disability as you might with. And some of those ways to communicate with the person, if the person has a caregiver how to communicate with that person's caregiver and really listen to those folks that surround them. To Melody, just a story. My husband has an aunt who has intellectual and developmental disabilities, and she actually had a significant bowel obstruction and to the point where her stomach was so distended when they brought her to the emergency room, they were like, Robin, how does this not hurt you? And she looked at them and she's like, It doesn't hurt yet. This was a very, very serious medical situation where the rest of us might be doubled over in pain. She was not indicating any pain whatsoever. And that really, to me, this was a couple of years ago, really crystallized why this is so important because we had that happen in our own family with somebody we love. And I was able to explain to my mother-in-law, Well this is probably why this was. So it's very important that as we continue this work, I know Vanderbilt has continued this work and that we continue to partner with those folks. Commissioner, thank you for giving me some time to talk.
Commissioner Brad Turner (27:36):
And just to put a bow on that, cuz Kara is exceptional when she walks through things like that, and that was certainly no exception. It really goes back to what your last question was is what are we doing to create person-centered terminology and person-centered practice and person-centered focus? And in the medical community, that's an area that we're always pushing to make sure that they're not just looking at the disability as the ailment to say, Well that's happening because of the individual might have cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy or whatever that might contribute, but that doesn't need to be the diagnosis to say, Well, there's nothing I can do. And Dr. Cheatham did an exceptional job working with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, creating that toolkit to say, Well, how do we peel back different layers of this on you to make sure that we're able to address the physical need or even the mental or emotional need. Another thing that we're running into as well now is dual diagnosis and individuals that might have mental health challenges on top of being a person with a disability and how do we make sure that we work with psychologists and clinicians to also treat the person's mental health on top of creating treatment plans for their physical health. So there's a lot that goes into that that we're always working on to try to make sure that we're dealing with the whole person and not just something specific tied to their physical or intellectual disability.
Marsh Naidoo (28:59):
What I'm most excited about besides the Katie Beckett wave is the work that you all are doing as far as fighting pathways for post-secondary education for individuals with disabilities. Please tell us more.
Commissioner Brad Turner (29:13):
Yeah, and you really keyed on something that we're all excited about. I'm smiling and Kara smiling because we didn't realize, I can't speak for care, I can speak for myself, but I don't know if I realized how strong the need was and the desire was in our community to be able to go to college, to be able to go to tech school, to be able to go to welding school or any kind of vocational school until we really started having those conversations, not only inside our department but working very closely with the Higher Education Commission. And so we've created a plan called the Tennessee Beliefs that will give students across Tennessee the opportunity to go to college. And we are able to provide grant money to universities and to TCATs technical schools inside the state to make sure that they've got an inclusive learning environment for students that want to go to college or to go to a TCA to develop a skill set that will allow them to earn a paycheck down the road.
(30:08):
So as we've traveled the state, we've realized that not only is there a hunger for it, there's an immense hunger for it all across the state from Memphis all the way over to Johnson City. And we've started to roll that out. So we just got done with our grant, our grant applications last month. We're working through those right now. We're hoping really soon to be able to announce how we're gonna be able to help programs all across the state, deliver post-secondary opportunities for students with disabilities and making sure that we're continue to move forward with a very person-centered education model and ultimately independents for Tennesseans with disabilities that are students and are gonna be going to college. So I hope that answers that a little bit cause I'm really excited about the potential of the program and individuals that are gonna be able to realize their, because we work together.
Marsh Naidoo (30:58):
Brad and Kara, is there anything else that you guys would like to close off with any areas that we have not covered during through the podcast that you would like to touch on as far as the work being done at D I D D or pathways that you are creating or any interesting opportunities that are coming up in the future?
Commissioner Brad Turner (31:22):
Yeah, I could talk about what we do all day every day, but ultimately what I want to do there, there's two things I wanna recognize. The folks that are, providers that we work with and the direct support professionals that deliver care every day we can't do our jobs without them. And I know sometimes as parents, we're also the direct support professionals. So I want to let everybody that's listening to your podcast know that I understand and I get the challenges that we have as parents. And I try to bring that to work every day. Kara just mentioned how she's got a loved one that is impacted by an intellectual developmental disability, and Kara brings that passion every day. What we try to do every day is to come into this office and come into our own individual roles and figuring out how do we make someone's today better than it was yesterday and how do we make tomorrow even better than it was today?
(32:13):
And we've got a lot of programs that we're starting to roll out that we're really excited about Enabling Technology. Tennessee is the national leader in enabling technology where we utilize communication platforms, we utilize the Ring Doorbell for people to live independently. We're utilizing iPads and those types of pieces of equipment for students that might need them in educational settings, but every day we're trying to challenge ourselves to be better than what we were. And so what we want folks to know that listen to your podcast and those that are not aware of us, we are here to help. We're not here to be in the way and create some level of bureaucracy where you feel like that you're not getting any help. We wanna make sure that there's support models in place that we want you to know about, that we want to help deliver, where Tennessee with disabilities can be their very best and be exceptional each and every day.
(33:05):
And one last thing that I wanna say that that's really been my tagline is that I've shared over the last three years is inclusion. Diversity is having a seat at the table. Inclusion is having a voice, but belonging is actually having that voice heard. What we wanna do is continue to create a department of belonging where every Tennessee and with the disability recognizes that they've got a bright future ahead and that they can reach for the stars and that we're gonna be there to support them in whatever manner that they need to be the best that they can be. And that's what our commitment is been, has been, is going to be. And we'll continue to be in the future and with partners like you in your podcast and folks that are challenging us to be better, we're gonna make sure that we're always gonna strive to be exceptional. And that's what I promise you we're gonna keep doing.
Marsh Naidoo (33:51):
That's amazing to hear. Guys, thank you all so much for your time, Kara, thank you for your time. And I don't know what else to say. You've answered all my questions, so
Commissioner Brad Turner (34:03):
I want to thank you for what you do with your voice and using that as a podcast and Raising Kellan who's an exceptional individual and thank you. And he has a bright future, and I want you to know even as the host of the podcast that we're here to help you because sometimes we focus on making sure that we're driving services for others, but there's opportunities for Kellan to continue to be exceptional. So thank you for the privilege to be able to speak a little bit from my heart about what matters to me, where you can hear it, but also the opportunity to get to know a little bit more about Kellan and the passion that you bring to your job because we need partners like you carrying the message as well. So thank you for the opportunity and thank you for partnering with us.
Marsh Naidoo (34:44):
Again, thank you to Commissioner Tanner and Kara Kumari for informing us of the work being done at D I D D. I think as parents, it's always reassuring when you know that policy-makers are wasted and supportive of creating an environment for all children to thrive. As a parent if you are seeking more information on the Katie Beckett waiver, hop over to tennessee.gov/D I D D slash katie Beckett waiver. If you would like to reach us in the future, you can contact us at raisingkellan@gmail.com or visit our website, raising killen.org. Can a review on your podcast player and that would be sincerely appreciated. Well guys, until we see you all the next time, remember as always, get to the top of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidoo signing off.